NBA

Trading Paul to Knicks won’t be easy

It’s no secret Chris Paul wants to come to the Knicks, but it does not appear his agent, Leon Rose, has officially informed the Hornets yet. Perhaps in due time.

A Yahoo! report Thursday stated Paul’s agent, Rose, had asked the team’s general manager, Dell Demps, to trade his client to the Knicks. The report said Rose, who’s also Carmelo Anthony’s rep, told Demps Paul will not sign a contract extension to remain in New Orleans.

According to The Post’s Peter Vecsey, no such incident took place. The New Orleans Times Picayune, citing two sources, also denied the star point guard had requested a trade to the Knicks.

“Paul made no such trade demand,’’ the source told The Post. “Rose is simply putting it out there to the media where his client wants to go.”

It’s easier said than done, anyway. The Post reported yesterday the Hornets do not feel the Knicks have trade pawns to make such a deal happen, according to a source who has spoken to Hornets management.

After Paul’s workout at the team’s practice facility yesterday and before the report surfaced, he was asked by New Orleans reporters about the speculation.

“I don’t think about it to tell you the truth. I’m just ready to get out here and compete,’’ Paul said. “This is what I do. I have a very tight circle and they know this whole lockout thing has been driving me nuts. I’m just happy to get out on the court and compete.’’

Though the Knicks have a strong interest in landing Paul, it won’t be easy doing it via trade this season.

The Knicks were wiped clean of several of their young assets and draft picks in the trade for Anthony last February, losing Danilo Gallinari, Wilson Chandler, Anthony Randolph, Timofey Mozgov, one first-rounder and two second-rounders.

But the Knicks did that deal partly because it protected their 2012 salary-cap situation with the master plan of signing Paul as a free agent in 2012, after his contract with the Hornets expires, and forming a Big 3 with Amar’e Stoudemire and Anthony. The plan did not include having enough chips to trade for him this season.

The Knicks don’t have their 2012 or 2014 first-round picks. Under NBA rules, the Knicks can’t trade a first-round pick until 2016 because a team can’t be without a pick in back-to-back years. The Knicks’ 2012 pick is with Houston from the Tracy McGrady deal and the 2014 pick went to Denver.

As for young pawns, the Knicks have first-round pick Iman Shumpert, who hasn’t played an NBA game, second-year man Landry Fields, who slumped badly after the Anthony trade after a nice rookie year, and Toney Douglas, who is recovering from major shoulder surgery.

The Knicks do have Chauncey Billups’ expiring contract, but that is of little use to the Hornets, who can hold on to Paul and have his contract expire. A third team would be needed to make Billups’ expiring pact have value. That team must be willing to give up a young assets to New Orleans and need to be looking to clear cap space for 2012’s free-agent bonanza.

The Knicks also have on their roster rookie center Josh Harrellson, a second-rounder who ironically was traded by New Orleans to the Knicks for $1 million.

The Hornets are owned by the NBA and that could be bad news for the Knicks since commissioner David Stern had tried to reduce the leverage players have in demanding trades in the new CBA.

The Yahoo report said Demps, a former Knicks scout, would speak to Paul personally when the official lockout ended because he wanted to hear it for himself.

There’s a reason Paul would want to go now and not wait until 2012. According to the new tentative CBA, if Paul is traded before Jan. 1, he could retain Bird rights with that new team and sign a lucrative extension deal spanning five years after the season. If he waits until the summer, he can sign with the Knicks for four years but at less-than-the-max, about $13 million.

“I told him just make the best decision for you and your family,” Anthony said yesterday. “He responded that he saw what I went through last year. I’m pretty sure there’s a certain part of him that doesn’t want to deal with that. … I don’t think the NBA needs that right now.”